Investors need more control over ICOs
At least, that's according to ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin. One of the early thinkers to shape the crypto funding mechanism concept, he hasn't quite put the idea aside, last month proposing it could be combined with a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to best...

Action film star Steven Seagal has become the brand ambassador for a controversial cryptocurrency ahead of an initial coin offering (ICO).
A statement posted to Seagal's Twitter account confirmed the news, the announcement for which was posted to the official website of "Bitcoiin." Seagal's endorsement - one of a...

Israel's government confirmed Monday that it would treat bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a kind of property for tax purposes.
The notice confirms past indications that the Tax Authority will regard cryptocurrencies as "a property, not a currency", making it therefore taxable as such. The Authority's position was first detailed...

Lithuania's central bank announced last week that it is probing a domestic initial coin offering (ICO) after determining that the token offered counts as a security.
In a Feb. 15 statement, the Lietuvos Bankas said it had made contact with blockchain banking firm Bankera regarding its token sale, which was...

Messaging app provider Telegram says it has raised $850 million in the first part of its controversial initial coin offering (ICO), public records show.
If confirmed, the raise is by far the largest seen for any ICO to date. According to CoinDesk's ICO Tracker, the previous record was the...

Australia's consumer watchdog has reportedly received over 1,200 complaints about cryptocurrency scams in 2017.
According to the ABC's current affairs program 7.30, data obtained from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission's (ACCC) Scamwatch program indicated it received 1,289 complaints related to crypto fraud in 2017. Losses totalling $1,218,206 were also...

When Bancor held its initial coin offering (ICO), it raised a lot of money and a lot of questions. Now, eight months on, the project seems to have found a role in the market.
Announced last week, the Tel Aviv-based project, aimed to make it easier for people to...

Paul Paray is an attorney in Allendale, New Jersey, focused on privacy and technology matters.
In his Feb. 8 opinion piece for CoinDesk, Santander's Julio Faura suggests that "utility tokens are a bad idea" because it would be a "lie to ourselves" to suggest initial coin offerings (ICOs) were...

Bitcoin had a decidedly mainstream moment this week: during a segment on the talk show hosted by comedian Ellen DeGeneres.
DeGeneres took a few pot-shots at the cryptocurrency, joking to her audience that it's like "a plot twist in a confusing movie."
"Everybody is talking about bitcoin," she went on...

Switzerland's finance regulator has published new guidelines that indicate it will treat some tokens sold during initial coin offerings as securities.
In a press release published today, the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) said there has been a sharp rise in the number of ICOs launching in Switzerland, resulting...